Almost everything I have said about Donald Trump so far, is something that you would expect from me. I think he is a clown running amok.
Since I am slightly left on some things and slightly right fiscally, I have concluded that, politically, I am right in the middle. So, my opinion should carry some weight.
‘Course, Harper, Trump and, probably, Li-keqiang all think they are middle of the road, too, so who really knows?
But I know ignorance when I see it. I know bigotry. I know bombast. I know simplistic and I know when someone says one thing one day and the other the next. And, sadly, I am intimately familiar with arrogance and conceit. I don’t like Trump. He reminds me too much of me.
Of course, I am not as bad as Trump but I am pretty sure that is only because I am not as rich. If I had billions, I would lash out with opinion after opinion on all sorts of things I know nothing about. I already do. And, I think it is that very aspect of the Donald that is resonating with the vastly stupid, the abysmally ignorant and the rightly angry middle and lower classes. The Donald is channeling their anger and frustration with the establishment. For them, he does not HAVE to be right – he only has to be angry.
He seems a bit ‘outlaw’ because he rants and raves and does not speak mealy-mouth. He speaks stupid but it is NOT mealy. Ironically, a spoiled, billionaire from New York is coming across like a James Dean (Rebel Without a Cause), a Marlon Brando (Wild Ones). He is Sonny Barger in a suit. He is Rob Ford. He is Jesse Ventura. He is as close to a rebel-who-can-do-it as we have seen in a long time.
Which is really too bad. Because there is a large appetite for a rebel in a lot of places.
I am all for rebelling, myself. Honest. I would invest in berets and bandoleers in a heartbeat. I’d call myself Commandante Cox. Maybe carry a machete. Or an axe (it is Canada, after all). And, Oh God! It would be great to put out a little red book with quotes! I can see the giant posters now. I would likely feature huge posters of my butt, tho. It is my best feature.
But I digress. What I am saying is that as stupid as he is – and he is – he is closer to ‘everyman‘ than is Hillary. He is closer to ‘everyman’ than any of the other idiot Republicans. Sadly, he is closer to ‘everyman‘ than even Bernie.
The USA is in trouble in this regard because of ever increasing income disparity. There are a helluva lot of poor, ignorant, angry ‘everymen’. And they are everywhere in the country; east, west, north, south and, after Iowa, centrally as well. They are, collectively, the most ignorant 1st world population on earth.
A recent poll conducted by some Ivy League University discovered that over 40% of their student population did not know when, where or who fought the Civil War. Half of those didn’t know that ‘civil war’ meant within one country! Americans are, by design, ignorant of the rest of the world and, seemingly, even their own. Except for celebrity. Those same stupid students knew everything about the Kardashians.
That does not bode well for a majority of ‘everyman’ to vote well. In fact, it is the perfect recipe for ‘everyman’ to vote for a ‘celebrity’.
And the one thing TRUMP is, is a celebrity.
Our Off the Grid Home 
At least I’m not a… insert your world view followed by a volley of epithets. I was born not long after World War Two, before the Korean War and at the beginning of the Cold War. Canada’s propaganda machine was running full bore spreading prejudicial messages. American propaganda did not stop at the Canadian border. The cartoons of World War two ran saturday mornings and child viewers were exposed to many stereotypes that are not now publicly voices for reasons of social intelligence. While our mothers were telling us in the fifties not to call names, not be intolerant and other lessons in manners, but mixed messages were everywhere outside of our homes and churches. This current issue of inappropriate speech is compounded in the USA with the First Amendment on free speech. Canada has no such protection of public speech but we do speak our minds in private. I’m not a fan of Trump but he speaks the way that most people speak when not being socially intelligent. Pitfalls abound in day to day discourse but Trump says what is often thought, but wise men “dare not speak.” In Trump’s world a SNAFU is explained in plain talking. He makes me uncomfortable when he speaks, but for the average Joe, Trump is telling a world vision that they can accept. Trump validates the views held by many. Trump has been described as an ape with a gun. Some of us feel superior to an ape but we do not know what the ape will do with the gun.
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“At least I’m not a… insert your world view followed by a volley of epithets.”
Did I offer a world view? Or did you mean an American view? Because many Americans think an American view is a world view. Never mind, I have a bit of a world view, so I guess it is OK.
And, sorry…I am not quite sure if you are ‘with me’ or against me?
But, either way, it’s OK. Neither of us have the suitcase with the red button in it so we can think and speak as we wish. I get a little concerned when imbeciles get their hands on those buttons, tho. I am not happy about North Korea having such a button, for instance. And I don’t feel comfortable with Trump having one, either.
I really like plain speakin’. And I like to tell it like it is. I especially like telling it like it is in simple terms. You know, like Mark Twain?
But a plain speakin’ idiot is not to be admired. Plain stupid is just plain stupid. The benefits of being ‘plain’ are lost when it is stupid. And Trump is – if not stupid – an ignorant bully, bigoted and simple. Close enough to warrant the stupid label , I think.
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Well you know what ‘they’ say ‘stupid is as stupid does’. So if Trump is given a chance to DO as he SAYS, the US is in for a whole lota’ stupid.
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I think that everything the Donald says is stupid. But, if he is saying it to garner the idiot vote, he is clearly not stupid. Because he is getting it. The real question is this: are the majority of Americans stupid? And, if they are not, are they still so angry that they may VOTE stupid?
I know that the average American is poorly educated, non-worldly and, for some reason, valuing of celebrity like a religion. That seems stupid. But it may just be ignorance (not knowing any better). Maybe they are smarter – their history is full of innovation and intelligence. They have produced some of the most inspiring leaders of modern times. Americans are unlikely to be as stupid as they seem. We’ll see.
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http://www.wfmd.com/articles/national-news-104668/political-science-professor-odds-of-president-14420838
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Terrifying
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Clearly Trump does not hate women but he does have have contempt for Megyn Kelly, Rosie O’ Donnell, Martha Stewart, Cher and others.Trump might not be a misoginist but why the epithets about being fat, hormonal, stupid, or addicted to failed plastic surgery.
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It’s not contempt, either. It’s just style. Bully-style. Comes from insecurity. It is over-reactive and personal. It’s frightening. It’s intimidating. Most of all it is surprising from someone claiming to be civilized. It’s just not sane discourse. Normal people recoil from that. So, he seems to win. It’s just a cut above throwing feces like a chimp. Maybe Rubio and Cruz will get that…?
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I agree that it is calculated. Trump does say that he will respond to challenges with his commensalism. ‘The Donald wears a cheap rug! Rosie, you are fat.’ Not sure he always gets the proportionality of response in-kind. Sometimes he goes Todd Bertuzzi in a Steve Moore way.
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The election of Trump as President would be the confirmation of everything that is corrupt and dysfunctional in the US electoral political system.
A “protest vote” of epic proportions OR the “idiocracy” the US deserves?
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Even tho I am not a fan of Trump nor a believer in the ‘exceptionalism’ theory that seems to pervade the USA, I believe that Trump support is very much a protest vote. Americans think they are special but that is not what is driving his support. They think he is a maverick and they want a civil rebellion of sorts. Hillary is deeply ‘establishment’ and all of us (even Canadians) are getting suspicious of our institutions (RCMP, Justice, Education, Corporate pandering). I think Trump support is akin to the appeal of the ‘bad boy’ in the movies and exemplified by James Dean. Even Just-in Trudeau (no bad boy but still a boy) has the appeal of youth. He just looks to young to be knee-deep establishment. I think we may be looking at what passes for revolution these days.
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Trump is playing to the American who think ill of him. He is attracting Republican women. “When people hate, it’s often born of something they hate in themselves. If that makes an American woman vote for woman-despising Donald Trump, it’s something worth identifying and repairing.”
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I know it is just semantics but I don’t think the Donald hates women. He’s a sexist and a chauvinist and clearly prefers women in uber traditional roles but that is an issue of personal insecurity rather than hatred. Feminists would argue that sexism and chauvinism are just misogyny by another name but I think otherwise. I think they are prejudice by another name.
For what THAT is worth to anyone.
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Mind you.
After all thats been said about Trump.
Perhaps this is what the US ( and Canadian ) political system needs……..an enema.
And Canadians shouldnt be so smug. Trudeau should be kissing a photo of Harper every time he walks into Parliament for Question Period. It was Harpers arrogance and unpopularity that got T2 elected.
The way things are with BILLIONS spent on elections by lobbyists in the US. Maybe they need an about face.
The irony of a billionaire running his own campaign with his own money…..to hell with the politically correct doublespeak spewed forth by the average bought and paid for politician……Ross Perot was way, way ahead of his time.
And lets face it.
A US President with a cantankerous Senate against him…….aint that powerful.
Interesting times.
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Well said. The main difference seems to be be that in recent american elections the folks funding their message, such as the Koch Brothers were funding proxy candidates.
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I am not surprised that so many people who do not like DT, like the ‘idea’ of him. A maverick who speaks what little mind he has. It is refreshing to see a real human, however horribly flawed, make a run at the ‘leadership’. It’s like stupid David against corrupt and entrenched Goliath. But that is what it appears to be simply because the guy talks ugly and wears his bigotry on his sleeve. Like the weird old mechanic down at the gas station who hates east Indians. Given that we all have some bigotry, we kinda like seeing the black bile flow on our behalf.
Just for the record, I honestly think we all carry less hate than we think we do. We are allowed to dislike some cultural ways groups have seen fit to adopt. But that dislike we feel for them as a group rarely transfers to an individual we get to know. I’ll bet the Donald would say, “I love Mexicans. I love all people. I just don’t like illegal ones.” He may even be telling the truth. Who knows? One thing we do know is that the Donald has no idea what kind of a challenge the poor, illegal Mexican faces. And that is what makes him so stupid to me.
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Be Leary of Trump clones on the Canadian political scene, Kevin has declared an interest in leading the Cons. As Kevin says, I do not need to speak French because I speak economics. Kevin was for no bail outs, if a company fails let it go. There goes GM. Kevin raged against the Notley in Alberta. Would Kevin offer subsidies to the oil sands? Nope.
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I kind of admire those dyed-in-the-wool, free-enterprising, rabid capitalists who come from an Adam Smith, almost Darwinian perspective. “Sink or swim!” “Let the strong survive!” God bless the simple-minded. They make good consumers.
The trouble is that their ‘free enterprise world’ never existed. Monopolies, inheritances and aristocrats that emerged not by merit but by blood and violence have coloured, influenced and controlled the majority of our major industries and all of free trade. Think oil, commodities and modern communications. Capital and labour was once thought to be on almost equal footing. Not any more. Capital is back on top with a vengeance and that erodes the basic tenets of the Wealth of Nations. There is no balance anymore. There is no invisible hand. If you need proof, read about Quantitative Easing.
Kevin, no doubt, was all for QE when his portfolio was threatened. Now, he wants a Regan-type to let the dogs of greed loose again. Easy to say when you are a pit-bull.
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I think that ignoring the political process might offer a better quality of life ! The frustrations that come from waiting for someone else to solve our problems seems to me like a sure to fail venture. The idea that we need a consensus to live a safe life “mob rule” and someone ( the government) to control the rules! opens up the chances of your Adolphs and Donalds to seize control when the masses feel unrepresented ! I know to most that my views might seem like an act of treason !!! but our vote does not and has probably never mattered the process is nothing more than a control mechanism designed to give the illusion that we indeed have input in the way our world works when in fact we don’t. To take control of our lives is to ignore the bully on the playground , the one that uses force for compliance and to bring democracy to world. The law that I think we should adhere to is one of God’s law( creator) Do what you want to do as long as you don’t harm others. A true life should require no permission from anyone or any organization.
Could have had a little to much vino, but stand by convictions!!
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Clearly you are mad as a hatter, intoxicated at the very least. Crazy-guy. How could you desicrate the holiest of holy? Our blessed Democratic institution? That’s tantamount to attacking the flag and mom’s Apple pie. You heathen! You must be one of those free-thinker types. How did you get past security?
I would nominate you for president but they’d assisinate someone so NOT programmed.
Consolation prize? More than a few on this site will drink wine with you.
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This election scares me more than any one before.
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America has been walking a divided highway and this threatens to force a more drastic choosing. If they choose Trump for the GOP, so be it. Stupid and still divisive but maybe healing can bring it back. But if they choose Trump for president, then they have chosen a really bad path. It may prove too divisive then.
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